Edward Atkin

Some 90’s PC Gamers might remember Chip’s Challenge. I first played it in “The Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack“, which was so long ago it came on a floppy disk. It included a bunch of “classics” such as Ski Free, Pipe Dream, Rodent’s Revenge, JezzBall and some other stuff. One game stood out though – Chip’s Challenge. A really nice tile-based puzzle game with 151 levels.

When I was about 8 years old I was obsessed with getting an Xbox. I really liked playing with computers, and hence, using Windows, so I assumed Microsoft were amazing and must have made a really cool games console. I spent ages browsing Amazon, looking at all the sweet games I could get. I thought Blinx the Time Sweeper, the failed mascot of Xbox, looked like the absolutely coolest thing. I also really wanted Midtown Madness 3, because I loved Midtown Madness 1 & 2!

King’s Quest I: Quest for the Crown is a classic and well regarded adventure game from the early 80s. It went on to spawn several sequels, remakes and reboots and it’s still well-remembered after nearly 40 years.

The Original King’s Quest

The original game features keyboard controls and text input to tell our hero what to do. Although this version is available on GOG, most people don’t recommend playing it unless it’s a game from your childhood.

There’s some dated game design choices in the original game – instead of a more usual point and click interface, you have to type in commands to perform actions. There’s also a lot of “dead ends” where the player may miss an item and make the game impossible to complete.

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly was the fourth entry into the Spyro series. When I was a kid I was really into the previous instalments, so I was super excited to try it out. I headed to Blockbuster with my mum and rented it. Thankfully, I did not buy it. Even as a kid I could tell this game just wasn’t really…right.

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly has quite a reputation for being a bad game, and is thought to be the downfall of Spyro.

The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition is a remake of the classic point and click adventure by LucasArts. It replaced the old, low resolution pixel art with amazing painted scenes and hand-drawn characters based on original concept art.

The game also has some quality of life improvements, such as the saviour of frustrated point and click adventurers – a hint system. This is my first time playing, or even seeing, a Monkey Island game. I can safely say this is a very strong start to the series of games and I’m now playing through the fourth game in the series.